1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate generally to circuit breakers, and more particularly, to systems and methods for non-intrusive inspections of high-voltage circuit breakers.
2. Description of the Related Art
High-voltage circuit breakers play an important protective role for high power machinery. Over time, however, these circuit breakers may wear down or experience other malfunctions and problems such as internal arcing. Therefore, these high-voltage circuit breakers must be routinely inspected for problems.
Traditionally, the inspection process has been costly and disruptive to customers. In order to inspect the internal components of the circuit breakers, they must be disassembled. During this disassembly process, the gases utilized internally in the circuit breaker to control arcing, such as sulphur hexafluoride gas, must be carefully contained because they are typically environmentally unsafe. Upon completion of the inspection process, the circuit breaker is reassembled and refilled with gas. However, during the gas refill process, the purity of the gas may oftentimes be compromised, therefore reducing the operational reliability of the circuit breaker. Indeed, experience has shown that the disassembly and reassembly of circuit breakers may reduce their overall operational reliability.
Thus, such an inspection process described above is deemed to be costly and disruptive to customers. Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for non-intrusive inspections of circuit breakers that are less costly and less disruptive than traditional methods.